India closely monitoring situation, especially the safety of its citizens. Contingency plans in place for intervention; deployment possible at short notice.

New Delhi: With Maldives descending into chaos after a declaration of emergency and arrests of the serving Chief Justice and a former President, India is weighing its options, with troops put on standby for any contingency that may arise in the coming days.

The island nation has been put under emergency rule by President Abdulla Yameen, who suspended civil rights and arrested the top judiciary after an unfavourable decision to release all political prisoners.

Sources said India has activated its standing operating procedure (SOP) for Maldives by putting troops on standby for deployment at short notice. While orders for direct military intervention have not yet been issued, the SOP mandates airborne troops and warships to be on standby to reach Maldives within hours if needed.

If need be, Indian options for intervention include significant amphibious naval assets that can be deployed within a few hours’ notice, as well as an enhanced airlift capability that includes C-17 and C-130J Special Operations Aircraft, besides a range of rotary wing options.

Decision makers in India are closely monitoring the situation, with Yameen facing a united opposition that has demanded his resignation. This includes his half-brother Abdul Gayoom, who was President of the country for 30 years. Yameen, incidentally, is strongly backed by China, which has increased its influence in the Maldives under his tenure with new infrastructure projects and investments.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was the first democratically elected leader of Maldives but was later sentenced under anti-terror laws, has urged for direct Indian intervention. “(request) India to send envoy, backed by its military, to release judges & pol. detainees inc. Prez. Gayoom. We request a physical presence,” Nasheed tweeted. He himself is one of the political prisoners that the Maldives Supreme Court had ordered to be released. He is currently in exile in Sri Lanka.

Among the many factors that are being monitored from South Block is the safety of Indian nationals as well as citizens of other friendly nations that work or are holidaying in Maldives. India had cautioned Maldives Friday that the rule of law should be followed, and that in the spirit of democracy, the government should abide by the rules of the Supreme Court. The arrest of the top judiciary Monday has put India in a spot, as it is in direct contravention to the request made by New Delhi.

China, which has been closely following the situation, has asked the government to take “necessary measures to faithfully protect the security of Chinese enterprises, institutions and personnel”. In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an advisory against travel to Maldives, and has said that it “supports all relevant parties in the Maldives in properly resolving differences through dialogue and negotiation and in safeguarding national and social stability”.

22 COMMENTS

We, the citizens of Maldives dont face any difficulty by declaring “State of emergency” . We don’t need any military assistance from India or any other country to solve our internal issues. So please don’t ever try to send your troops to here.

maldives is a separate country. india is not welcome to come maldives for internal issues even though some of political peoples requests. some of maldives oppositions want to make this worse. specially MOHAMED NASHEED who has to be in jail for 13years. why india doesn’t helps maldives to bring those prisoners?????

We don’t want any foreign power meddling in our internal politics. Maldivian politics is been played between a greedy power hungry man who lost elections in 2013 along side the elder brother of the President Yamin who ruled this country with an iron fist for 30 darn years.
If India moves troops on the request of just One greedy and failed Politician then it certainly is a reflection of the values India has towards it’s neighbors. The Majority of the people do not want Nasheed back in Male, see the crowds. the number does not peek 200 supporters.

Thank you for your concern. But our government is intact and we have a capable president to rule this country who will uphold rule of law and work for best interest of the people. We are not concerned about those morons namely Nasheed and maumoon who creating this unrest. All they want is to become the ruling party. At any given cost. India, You have permission only to attend to our problems only if president Yamyn grant it. Stay away.

oh please.. india india.. i question what you people are up to. don’t you know “maldives” we are independent country and we have our own rule of law and a beautiful peaceful religion practiced through out the country. we don’t need your shitty people here in this beautiful country. nor we don’t need any kind of assistance from your shitty troops. please stop thinking that maldives is your district or part of your shitty nation. we are just one country. respect our government and our values. you can’t play with us, here in maldives we have civilized people. don’t you dare come near us. we are not worried about what stand you might take. but you should be. here we have thousands of indian shitty cow suckers who are depending on income from our country. we can send them back to where the hell they belong. couple of drug addicts are with the so called NASHEED. he barely even know about maldives.

Mohamed Nasheed is the enemy of this country and he does have any power to anounce for foriegn troops. He is a terrorist. All the unneccessary issues faced to this coutry is backed by this unloyal terrorist. Indians are our friends and we donot want break our frindship.

We don’t military intervention from India. It is quite calm and normal here in Maldives. Dormer President Nasheed is insane. He himself abducted a sitting judge in his administration on his orders. SC in his recent ruling violates arricke 159 of Maldivian constitution. Basically, they’re ruling is void. So standby Maldivians not with a power hungry fugitive Nasheed.

india envies China Maldives relationship. Don’t worry we won’t let you down. We don’t take sides. But don’t try to invade this country. Wait for a genuine call from the citizen of Maldives not from a self exile traitor. Show your military might to an equal strength not a country which has no military at all.

I’m a Maldivian. And this is our nation. This nation not only belongs to activists. Kill me and half of our population. Dear India. Please solve your problems. India is the most corrupted country in the world. With the most rape cases , with the most murder cases, with the most internal corruption. Help your self than helping others.

Tell that to your ex president who asked us for help.We dont want to come to your shitty island which will be under water.
Wow maldives has no corruption and all over there are godly honest people LOL shithead India dosent gve a shit about tiny island.Buzz off

We do not need any occupation. Our safety is assured by our president and our security forces. 1988 was an example enough of being held captive by power hungered idiots. So India, stay away from us. Maldivians are independent people. Keep yours to yourselves. 🙏

I am a Maldivian. We do need help from India other nations that countries that wishes Maldives to be a democratic country. I firmly believe current situation will not be resolved if it is only left for YAGs administration. We have consistently seen concentration of Power by this administration and now the judiciary and the Parliament is completely Paralyzed. These features are typically seen in dictatorships.

Even we don’t want to come to your small shitty island 😂 which will be underwater soon by itself. We didn’t said we want to come there. Your former President asked for that. Don’t be a dick and keep your mouth shut untill you know anything about your own country.😂 Dumb ass Maldives.